Hurricane Ian left a path of destruction in southwest Florida, trapping people in flooded homes, destroying the only bridge to Sanibel Island, damaging the roof of a hospital intensive care unit and knocking out power to 2.5 million people as it dumped rain across the peninsula on Thursday.
One of the strongest hurricanes to ever hit the United States threatened catastrophic flooding around the state.
Ian’s tropical-storm-force winds extended outward up to 415 miles (665 km), drenching much of Florida and the southeastern Atlantic coast.
With no electricity and patchy cellphone coverage, many calls for help weren’t getting through, even as emergency crews sawed through toppled trees to reach people in flooded homes.
